Polenta, the North Italian equivalent of a potato, is a funny beast. It takes a lot of love – in the form of stirring and time – and can so often vary from being delicious to a kind of dull nothing-ness. When done properly, like I recently experienced at fabulous new restaurant opening 10 Greek Street in Soho, it is one of the most brilliant things to accompany a nice saucy dish. The incredible flavour of the 10 Greek Street polenta left a craving in me for more, so I had a shot at it myself. I fell way below parr on this one so I’m not going to bore you with my recipe, it was fine, but not a patch on theirs and next time I make it I’ll seek out a proper recipe or maybe try and bribe the chef for his.

Anyway, the point of all this is that not only is it versatile and (potentially) delicious in its first cooked form but it then becomes the most brilliant left over with which you can do all sorts of tricks. Yesterday we got some incredibly tasty venison sausages in our Abel and Cole box, so we fried the polenta up into little cakes to go with them, 4-5 minutes on either side over a medium flame. Along with a salad and a nice onion gravy this was a hugely satisfying meal. The polenta seems somewhat lighter than potato so you don’t end up feeling all bogged down by food.

Anyway, for lunch today I’m going to do something similar with them, but stuff the centre with some mozzarella so it goes all gooey. You could stuff them with anything, mix in tomatoes, spring onions, herbs, fish, anything. Enough anyway to stop you from feeling like you’re eating the same thing again and again. Worth making too much of in the first place I think.